Government borrowing at lowest level for a decade as families pay a record £18.1bn of self-assessment income tax

Families paid £18.1bn of self-assessment income tax in January and February

Booming tax receipts have pushed Government borrowing down to the lowest level for nearly a decade, figures showed.

Families paid a record £18.1billion of self-assessment income tax in January and February as well as £8.4billion of capital gains tax – also an all-time high.

The surge in receipts from self-assessment reflects the rising number of self-employed workers while capital gains tax has soared as ministers hammer the middle classes in their bid to balance the books.

The Government raised total revenues of £616.1billion in the first 11 months of the tax year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

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But even more was spent on public services, welfare payments and other projects, meaning the Government borrowed £47.8billion between April 2016 and February 2017, down from £67.7billion in the same period a year earlier.

The Government borrowed £1.8billion in February, down from £4.6billion in the same month of last year and the lowest February shortfall since 2007.

Chancellor Philip Hammond looks set to hit his target of reducing the annual deficit to £51.7billion for the full-year.